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The Future of Search Engine Technology
by Andy Beal ©Copyright 2004

By now you have probably read numerous articles predicting "What 
will happen in 2004" or "Can MSN take on Google". While it is 
always worthwhile to look ahead and consider what may happen 
this year in the search engine industry, what about the things 
that we can't quite yet predict? Instead of looking at what will 
happen this year, perhaps we should look at what must happen in 
the search engine space if Google, Yahoo and MSN are truly able 
to revolutionize search and enhance the user experience.
 
Overcoming The Lack Of Relevant Search Results
 
Even today, conducting a search on any of the major search 
engines can be classified as an "enter your query and hope for 
the best" experience. Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, while 
designed to take you directly to the number one results, could 
ironically be a truism for its entire search results (process?). 
Enter your desired search words into any of the search engines 
and you often end up crossing your fingers and hoping that they 
display the type of results you were looking for. Since the 
recent updates of "Florida" and "Austin", complaints that Google, 
in particular, is displaying less relevant results have escalated 
(although mostly by those who lost important positioning that 
they had assumed was their right to maintain).
 
There is, of course, evidence that the search engines are 
trying to enhance their search results - so that they can better 
anticipate the intentions of the searcher. Search for "pizza 
Chicago" at Yahoo, and you'll see that the top results include 
names, addresses, telephone numbers and even directions to pizza 
restaurants in Chicago, a great improvement on previous results. 
Even when you take everyone's favorite search term example, 
"windows", you can see that the search engines are at least 
trying to determine your intent. While Yahoo and Google still 
display search results saturated with links discussing 
Microsoft's pervasive operating system, enter your search over 
at Ask Jeeves and the chirpy English butler will ask you if you 
meant "Microsoft Windows" or "Windows made out of glass".
 
 
Future Search Engine Technology
 
Smaller search engines have also materialized over the past few 
weeks, each offering to improve the user experience. Grokker 
(http://www.groxis.com/service/grok/) offers an interface that 
groups search results graphically, improving the way search 
results are segmented and displayed. Eurekster 
(http://www.eurekster.com/), combines the social networking 
elements that are used by sites such as Friendster 
(http://www.friendster.com/index.jsp), and provides results 
that can be filtered based upon what members of your group are 
searching. While all of these are interesting and provide a 
glimpse of the future of search, it will not be the small 
companies that change the way we search. With Google about to 
get an influx of cash from its upcoming IPO, Yahoo re-vamping 
Inktomi and Overture, and Microsoft finally jumping into the 
search arena, it will be these search engine powerhouses that 
enhance our search experience and take search engine technology 
to the next level.
 
So what is this next level? What technology is it that I speak 
of, that will revolutionize the way we receive our search engine 
results? I believe that the search results we receive in just a 
couple of years from now could make current search engine 
technology look as archaic and cumbersome as picking up a Yellow 
Pages book is today. However, in order to achieve this new search 
nirvana we, as consumers, must quell our fears and trepidations 
surrounding the protection of our privacy. In order for the 
search engines to develop technology that will be intuitive and 
anticipate our every need, we must first relinquish at least 
some of the privacy that we currently hold so dear. Let's take a 
look at some of the ways that search technology could improve and 
you'll soon get the idea why it will require us to cooperate with 
the search engine providers.
 
"Windows" or "windows"?
 
If you desire to be able to enter a term as ambiguous as 
"windows" and expect to see relevant results, you'll first need 
to give up some personal information to the search engines. 
Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask already have the means to collect an 
astonishing amount of information from us, by our use of their 
toolbars. Don't panic, they currently allow you to disable this 
information gathering, and even if you do allow it, it is 
collected anonymously. However, with the technology already in 
place, why not unleash its full potential?
 
Let's say I let Google track my online activities, allowing it 
to monitor the web sites I view and keep a log of all of the 
search queries I enter. This type of information could greatly 
improve the relevancy of the results displayed to me. For 
example, two years from now, I could search for "home 
improvement" on Google. I then find the listing for Lowes.com 
and visit the site. While I am at their web site, I look at a 
number of different pages, but I spend a lot of time in the 
"house windows" section, exploring the different styles and 
prices. Why not let Google capture all of that useful 
information? Then, when I go back to Google the following day 
and search for "windows" it would know that glass windows is 
more likely to be the type of product I am seeking out. Google 
would simply have remembered my previous searches, read the HTML 
and Meta data, located on the Lowes.com pages, and used this to 
identify the intent of my new search for windows.
 
While I would have to give up some of my privacy, wouldn't it be 
worth it if I could save myself time and energy by having search 
engine results more relevant to my desire?
 
You've Got Search In Your Mail
 
Another area with great potential for improving search engine 
results will likely be developed by Google. You may have heard 
the rumors that Google is getting set to launch an email client 
that many expect will be a free service similar to Yahoo Mail or 
Hotmail. Currently, Yahoo does an adequate job of making search 
available to all of its email customers. Each page within Yahoo 
Mail has a search box that makes it easy for you to conduct a 
search that might be sparked by an email you receive. But why 
not take it one step further?
 
Google has the technology to really take advantage of search 
within email. Why else would it even consider entering this 
arena? Imagine that, in order to use a free Google email 
account, you allow Google to provide advertisements and track 
your email activities. Google could change the way that search 
results and ads are displayed to free email users. For example, 
let's say you receive an email from your brother, the content of 
which, among other things, gloats about the brand new P4 desktop 
computer that they just purchased from Dell. As part of the 
interface you use to read that email, Google magically displays 
paid search advertising for desktop computers, including a link 
that will take you directly to the appropriate page on Dell.com. 
This information would be quite beneficial to you, as you may be 
interested in seeing how you too can be a proud owner of a P4 
computer. Fantastic targeted advertising for Dell, as they know 
that if you click on the listing, they are halfway there to
converting you into another satisfied customer.
 
This idea is so much closer to reality than you may think. 
Google already has the advertisers with its AdWords service 
boasting 150,000 users, eager to spend their advertising 
dollars. It also has the technology to determine which results 
to show you within your email interface. Google's AdSense can 
provide the contextual ad technology that would scan an email's 
content to determine which ads are the most relevant to display. 
With this technology in place, a simple provision within any 
Google Email Terms & Conditions would give the world's largest 
search engine the necessary permission to serve up relevant ads 
to all users of its free email service.
 
We could be offered the option of paying a monthly premium in 
order to not have ads shown when we read our email, but if they 
are relevant to the content of a received message, why would we 
want to block them?
 
From Desktop to Internet
 
Another development in search engine technology that I can see 
happening would come from the development of Microsoft's new 
Longhorn operating system. While I must confess that I am not 
au fait with the intricate workings of this project, I do know 
that it will likely use the search technology that MSN is 
developing.
 
Imagine an operating system that monitors all of your activities 
-- with your permission, of course. Every file, every image, 
word document, mp3, even e-books could be monitored by your 
computer as it endeavors to anticipate your every need. Not only 
could an integrated search engine allow you to search files 
located on your hard drive, but it could also use the information 
it has collected from these files to make your online search 
experience even more enjoyable.
 
It is quite possible that Longhorn or a future OS (Microsoft, 
Linux or Mac) could become intelligent enough to know that after 
listening to one of your favorite songs by the 80's rock band, 
Heart, your consequent search online for "heart" is more likely 
to originate from a desire to view the band's fan site, than that 
pressing need to visit the web site of The American Heart 
Association. Your all-encompassing search engine would perhaps 
be a realization of the Ask Jeeves friendly butler, ready to 
anticipate your every need.

To Search Where No-one Has Searched Before
 
When you think about the future of search, it is easy to get 
excited. Millions (if not billions) of dollars are going to be 
filling the coffers of the largest search engine providers. 
They have some of the smartest people in the world working to 
develop the next great "thing", which will enhance the user 
experience and serve up better, more relevant search results. 
Search engine technology is still most definitely in its infancy; 
how it grows will very much depend upon how much information and 
privacy the average search engine user is willing to give up. 
Personally, if I can view search results that more closely match 
my desired results, I'm willing to give up the name of my 
favorite pet, my place of birth and my mother's maiden name!
 
================================================================
Andy Beal is Vice President of Search Marketing for WebSourced, 
Inc and KeywordRanking.com, global leaders in professional search 
engine marketing. Highly respected as a source of search engine 
marketing advice, Andy has had articles published around the 
world and is a repeat speaker at Jupiter Media's Search Engine
Strategies conferences. Clients include Real.com, Alaska Air, 
Peopleclick, Monica Lewinsky and NBC. You can reach Andy at 
andy@keywordranking.com and view his daily SEO blog at 
www.searchenginelowdown.com.
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